GTA V: Cheat Tool Developer Must Pay $150,000 to Take-two



A US court has ruled in favor of Take-Two in a case against a developer of a cheat software for Grand Theft Auto V. Jhonny Perez must pay the publisher the maximum fine of $ 50,000 in damages.
Take-Two Interactive last August files against a claim of copyright infringement through the development and dissemination of a cheat tools for GTA V (benchmark review here). The software called "Elusive" enabled, among other things, the generation of the in-game currency GTA-Dollar in the online mode of the game and had a comprehensive menu for various other cheats such as infinite ammunition, the spawning of any vehicle or teleportation. The options were often used by cheaters to make life difficult for other players in GTA Online.
The software was sold at prices ranging from $ 10 to $ 30 on the Internet, how much money Perez has made, is still unknown. The defendant did not respond to any requests and did not defend himself against the allegations. This omission was assessed by the court as a confession of guilt, as can be seen from the judgment (PDF).
Over 500K Alleged Damage
The damage compensation of $150,000 was the maximum for such offenses. Take-Two initially sought an out-of-court settlement but decided by the lack of cooperation from Perez to take action. According to the publisher, cheats with the software caused damage of at least $ 500,000. On the one hand, GTA Online's reputation was damaged by cheaters, and on the other, the software made the purchase of virtual GTA dollars against real currency superfluous.
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OMFG.... by this logic, then weapon makers should be finned/jailed/executed for each live taken away with a gun they made.. (I'd actually like that but that's not the point here).
Remember the charges are copyright infringement, not making a cheating tool or messing with a virtual parallel micro economy designed to harvest money from not-cattle-but-customers.
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Apples and oranges. There are no legal precedents for cheat software, there is legal precedents for weapons. That being said, if someone sells an ILLEGAL weapon and someone does an illegal act with it, whoever sold it to them does face consequences. As well, if they sell the gun illegally, regardless if it's a legal gun or not, the seller does face consequences.
What's a more fair comparison is:
This is like people who sell illegal drugs being held accountable if it kills someone, which is how it is.
It's good to know who the cheaters are in this forum though, this article has made that pretty obvious.
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I have never cheated in games sounds really sad that cheating is needed to have fun and be a winner, I am really pleased the fight against cheating is happening
lets hope more of this happens as gamers who cheat spoil the game for people who just want to play the game as it was intended.
Maybe there is a market for a cant play fair cheat addition where nobody gets killed and they all have everything.
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I'd seduce someone's wife and make them cheat on their partner, before I'd cheat in a computer game.
It means that little to me.
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__
Absolutely all cheaters say that. Fact.
So everyone that thinks government interference in matters of private industry is a bad thing are cheaters?
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If I ever get a chance to smash any cheater or a cheat-maker, I will not hesitate. And I'll do it lightheartedly. But there is another problem, a huge one I'm afraid - many games become cheaters themselves.
Now, to explain what I mean by this, I'll humbly ask all of you to listen to my complaint concerning my grievous experience with the game called "War Thunder" (not that it's the only one in this regard, just the latest of it's kind in my case; as soon as you read this, you'll understand why the company opted for such curious name - GAYjin):
The game is mainly intended for those who love participating in "virtual air combats" (and tank combats, much like in a World of tanks). Now, apart from good graphics and good sounds (of the engines, weapons' fire etc.) the crucial element for the game play to be CONVINCING (that is: to make you feel like "being really there") is the successful translation of the "atmosphere" of the REAL battle into the virtual one. And that's exactly where the producer fails from the day number 1, under the pretense of having to do so because of the lack of predefined number of participants in a "map" (a virtual battle ground on the server) e.g. to avoid the "empty slots", these are "emulated" by the so-called BOTS - software generated "players", just like in any offline (single player) combat games. So, basically, players do not only fight against each other, but also against the software ("players" generated by the game itself). And this is where the problem appears: the game (the company that owns it) is using the cunning schemes to undermine/downplay the real players' effectiveness by implementing the deceptive, undocumented features within the "abilities" of the BOTS - the bloody "creatures" are flying better than any aces ever flew and their planes are more resistant to the damages than any plane ever produced in reality etc.. Why the company does so? With only one reason: to suppress the advancement (earning points, hierarchy ranking etc.) of the real (human) players, implicitly persuading them into actually BUYING (purchasing virtual "gold coins" for the REAL $) to compensate ("boost") their own advancement. Practically, the game ITSELF is a CHEATER here, and it directly drives people into thinking what to do in terms of finding "alternative ways" to outwit the treacherous bastards, including the use of a "player-modified" accounts (the cheats).
In other words, when discussing the "cheating", it turns out the real problem might not be the isolated programmers/reverse engineers who supply customers now and then, but the game producers themselves.
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The point here is not about developers working hard/lazily on securing the game. My point is about taking the responsibility for abusing it.
Cause someone has cheaper lock on its door, doesn't mean the thief is allowed to bust it and enter. Thief has to be responsible for it.
Yes, this is also applies on software and there laws protecting it.
And yes, I do agree with others that Publishers only sued cheater developers cause it abused their revenue. Publisher probably doesn't care about players.
Cheater developers might of played "Robin Hood" role here, unfortunately it has consequences in our modern capitalistic society.
Perhaps, the issue though is everyone, I mean literally everyone in this thread has jumped on the bandwagon and blamed the guy making the cheat and not a single person has said or even suggested that the lazy developer could have spent a small part of it's vast fortune and tried, just tried a little bit to make the game more secure and opted not too. MOST PROFITABLE PIECE OF MEDIA IN HISTORY yet the game is still rocking about with day one glitches and bugs 4 years down the line, blame the cheater but Rcokstar should be equally blamed for the shambolic state the game is in that allows these guys to do what they do.
At what point does it become the responsibility of the developer to take the blame and if this guy can be sued for creating cheats that 'affect their revenue' then what about this guy
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqA4Bpg0OP9XZJGNp448Viw
Every day the guy has a new work around that allows people to make money using the game Rcokstar released, in a state Rcokstar said yup that's good to go release that. What about me should they be sueing me? I bought a sharkcard or two in my day, but gave up when I found out what a lazy greedy developer Rcokstar had become and started using dupe glitches such as those highlighted in this guys videos. Should I be getting sued? By Rcokstar logic I am literally taking money out of their pockets and what about when the roles are reversed such as was the case around a year ago when Rcokstar did a ban wave sweep and banned or reset folks money, legit earned money in some cases equal to around £100 or more in real world cash if you bought one of their shark cards. They gave these players no reason other than a generic paste book response, they gave no evideance and their customer support was utterly worthless when it came to resolving this. Rockstar just took what in their eyes was a revenue stream from players so does that mean they should be sued for that?
It's good to know who the cheaters are in this forum though, this article has made that pretty obvious.
Oh oh that's me, I dunno I find it somehow a little bit of a piss take to have to grind (not play, but grind) a game for two or three days just to be able to buy a cookie cutter, poorly implemented, poorly tested, buggy, op vehicle or weapon just to allow me to have even half a chance of keeping up with another player. Oh I also love how if I want to buy a car that costs 2 mill and I have 2 mill turns out I can't just buy the car. I also have to buy the new facility / bunker / MOC / airport / arena / nightclub before hand and then on top of that I then have to buy the garage or facility within there that allows me to then mod the car and then I get to finally buy the vehicle and suddenly that car that would have cost me 2mil to buy now actually costs me 3 times as much. I also love how the price of basics within the game has increased by 2 - 5 times the original price yet the like for like real world cash doesn't buy you 2 - 5 times more in game cash and better yet I love all of that happening within a game that is still rocking about with day one glitches and bugs because it's quicker and easier to sh*t out another five cookie cutter flying rocket bikes than it is to I dunno fix the f*cking broken ar*se catch up or perhaps fix this glitch
Which I found over a year ago, told Rcokstar about and got a response that it had been elovated to their tech support and the case was closed as resolved despite it still being in the game to this day!
So yes I 'cheated' sorry 'glitched' because end of the day I used Rcokstar's game in the state they released the game to make money ad I'll justify that as me showing Rcokstar the same amount of respect they have been showing the GTAO community for the last 3 years.... NONE!
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My ugly girlfriend said if I ever cheated on her she would leave me.....
Still pondering my options.
Edit: in all honesty Modern Warfare 2 got so bad I joined a hacked private server of the game just for the "vote kick" option.
Still play it now....best multiplayer game of all time.
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People here are arguing whether or not it was the court's position to deal with this in the first place, but I think the bigger deal isn't whether or not they should have but this:
I think the omission of a statement of innocence shouldn't be allowed to be counted as assertion of the opposite.
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Perhaps, the issue though is everyone, I mean literally everyone in this thread has jumped on the bandwagon and blamed the guy making the cheat and not a single person has said or even suggested that the lazy developer could have spent a small part of it's vast fortune and tried, just tried a little bit to make the game more secure and opted not too. MOST PROFITABLE PIECE OF MEDIA IN HISTORY yet the game is still rocking about with day one glitches and bugs 4 years down the line, blame the cheater but Rcokstar should be equally blamed for the shambolic state the game is in that allows these guys to do what they do.
At what point does it become the responsibility of the developer to take the blame and if this guy can be sued for creating cheats that 'affect their revenue' then what about this guy
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqA4Bpg0OP9XZJGNp448Viw
Every day the guy has a new work around that allows people to make money using the game Rcokstar released, in a state Rcokstar said yup that's good to go release that. What about me should they be sueing me? I bought a sharkcard or two in my day, but gave up when I found out what a lazy greedy developer Rcokstar had become and started using dupe glitches such as those highlighted in this guys videos. Should I be getting sued? By Rcokstar logic I am literally taking money out of their pockets and what about when the roles are reversed such as was the case around a year ago when Rcokstar did a ban wave sweep and banned or reset folks money, legit earned money in some cases equal to around £100 or more in real world cash if you bought one of their shark cards. They gave these players no reason other than a generic paste book response, they gave no evideance and their customer support was utterly worthless when it came to resolving this. Rockstar just took what in their eyes was a revenue stream from players so does that mean they should be sued for that?
Oh oh that's me, I dunno I find it somehow a little bit of a piss take to have to grind (not play, but grind) a game for two or three days just to be able to buy a cookie cutter, poorly implemented, poorly tested, buggy, op vehicle or weapon just to allow me to have even half a chance of keeping up with another player. Oh I also love how if I want to buy a car that costs 2 mill and I have 2 mill turns out I can't just buy the car. I also have to buy the new facility / bunker / MOC / airport / arena / nightclub before hand and then on top of that I then have to buy the garage or facility within there that allows me to then mod the car and then I get to finally buy the vehicle and suddenly that car that would have cost me 2mil to buy now actually costs me 3 times as much. I also love how the price of basics within the game has increased by 2 - 5 times the original price yet the like for like real world cash doesn't buy you 2 - 5 times more in game cash and better yet I love all of that happening within a game that is still rocking about with day one glitches and bugs because it's quicker and easier to sh*t out another five cookie cutter flying rocket bikes than it is to I dunno fix the f*cking broken ar*se catch up or perhaps fix this glitch
Which I found over a year ago, told Rcokstar about and got a response that it had been elovated to their tech support and the case was closed as resolved despite it still being in the game to this day!
So yes I 'cheated' sorry 'glitched' because end of the day I used Rcokstar's game in the state they released the game to make money ad I'll justify that as me showing Rcokstar the same amount of respect they have been showing the GTAO community for the last 3 years.... NONE!
Again, that's not the point. You trying too hard.
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Apples and oranges. There are no legal precedents for cheat software, there is legal precedents for weapons. That being said, if someone sells an ILLEGAL weapon and someone does an illegal act with it, whoever sold it to them does face consequences. As well, if they sell the gun illegally, regardless if it's a legal gun or not, the seller does face consequences.
What's a more fair comparison is:
This is like people who sell illegal drugs being held accountable if it kills someone, which is how it is.
It's good to know who the cheaters are in this forum though, this article has made that pretty obvious.
Emmm sorry but no. Making "cheats' is not illegal, not in the US, not here not in the moon. The guy was charged for copyright infringement, not even intelectual property but copyright... that means, using assets or lines of code property of R*.
The "losing money" is not an argument, and god forbids it will ever be (cuz u know, a competitor makes u lose money, should I sue?), it was deemed as the consequence of the copyright infringement and "cheating" was never even mentioned because it holds absolutely no ground in a court (what is and what is not cheating? who decides?, etc).
To sum up, the correct analogy would be: YOU buy a "fake" Colt sight for your pistol which is in infringement of copyright (not even a patent, just copyright) and YOU kill someone, but you want to punish the sight maker for murder (again, in the case of weapons I'd actually like that being true, but it's not).
People here are arguing whether or not it was the court's position to deal with this in the first place, but I think the bigger deal isn't whether or not they should have but this:
I think the omission of a statement of innocence shouldn't be allowed to be counted as assertion of the opposite.
Yup, losing by default sounds terrifying....
Even more, R* is playing "local" by suing the guy on their preferred court by invoking the EULA of the game.... but copyright can't be infringed "IN" the game, so even the jurisdiction is weird.
Disclaimer: I never ever played GTAV, not even single player, I don't play online shooters and don't really like them. People calling us "cheaters" sound like little kids (sorry actual kids, u are not at fault here)
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If you take your foot off the accelerator during the air - you lose speed.
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You know what kinda had enough of your BS mate, welcome to ignore
So what is the point? Wave your hands in the air and rejoice at the fact that Rcokstar have 'stopped' a cheat creator? I mean if it fits with the general opinion of the thread I can happily pat Rcokstar on the back for 'being the good guy here'??
What exactly IS the point of the thread because it seems any form of descent or questioning that Rcokstar may have to foot some responsability for making their game so easy to cheat in, doesn't hold well with the general opinion?
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Doesn't seem like they ever made any efforts to stop cheating so suing cheat devs won't stop cheating because the game is so easy to screw with. Most online games aren't as full of cheaters as GTA V
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I never enjoyed playing the online aspect of the game - it felt sooooo 'grindy' to me, with no impact whatsoever on the server you were connected to.
You can't 'control' a city. You can't dictate the 'law' on a server and be a figurative kingpin of a server, with your crew, ready to defend every aspect of the city/server.
zero consequences. zero point.
Don't like the people on a server; getting pwned too much; finding yourself backed into a corner? Just leave and join an identical immaculate city on another server.
The amount of times I've backed someone into a corner after maybe 45 mins of chasing them, and they just leave...waste of time.
I can't steal someones car, boat, hideout, base...NOTHING! Total sham.
Anyway - the single player experience for GTAV is really cool - just like RDR2, but online? GFY rockstar, srsly, just...GFY and come back once you have made an online experience that has actual REAL consequences for the people who play it, unless of course, you just want to rinse and price gouge the entirety of the internet...
If I can't (permanently) destroy (or steal) someone's property that they paid real money for...then there is no 'game'.
Does anyone know whether SC is planning the same thing? Wherein, you cannot destroy someone's property or steal it? And if you do, it will just re-spawn somewhere, over a rainbow?